


Everlasting Bubbles

by st_mick



Series: Niffler [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: Bubble Baths and Snogging, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, More healing for Ianto, Promises in the dark, Some Fluff, Some angst, Unexpected Conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-29 23:37:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17817698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_mick/pseuds/st_mick
Summary: Draco and Susan take care of Ianto's unhealed injuries from the sectumsempra curse.  But the healing takes a toll.  Once it is done, Jack spends some time comforting Ianto.  Snogging and talking ensue...





	Everlasting Bubbles

That afternoon, when Draco and Susan arrived, Martha and Owen helped them prepare the table in the autopsy bay.  Susan waved a wand, and a nice, comfortable mattress appeared on the table.   

Luna and Jack brought Ianto in and sat him on the table.  It was a mark of his exhaustion that he did not seem to object to everyone seeing him in just his boxer briefs.  He had not been pleased when they told him about the planned procedure, but he was too tired to argue with both Jack and Luna about its timing or necessity.

“I’m sorry, Ianto,” Jack said, and punched him on the chin.

Ianto’s head snapped back, and he reached up and grabbed his chin.  “Ow!  What the hell was that for?”

Jack looked nonplussed.  “They said they couldn’t put you out, but I figured if I knocked you out…”

“Bloody hell, Jack.  If a bludger to the chin couldn’t knock me off my broom, then your reluctant right hook sure as hell isn’t going to do the trick.”

“Hey, I remember that match,” Susan grinned.  “You took a bludger to the chin and still scored seven goals, and then Cedric caught the snitch.”

“Yeah, yeah.  It was a hell of a match,” Draco snarked.

“Oh come on.  Hufflepuff didn’t beat Slytherin very often.  Don’t be a sore loser.”

“Yeah, well.  We don’t all have rock-hard Welsh heads, and Nif wasn’t the only one clobbered by a bludger, that day.”

“Yes, but did you have to Skele-Gro half your jawbone and almost all of your teeth back, that night?” Ianto grinned.

“You win,” Draco winced.

“It sounds like English,” Owen shook his head.

“And yet,” Martha chuckled.

“Hey, can we all go to a quidditch match, sometime?” Jack asked.  “It’s brilliant, Owen.  You’ll love it.”

“Don’t see why not,” Ianto looked at Luna and Susan, who both shrugged their agreement that it shouldn’t be a problem, since Torchwood, while mostly comprised of muggles, was exempt from the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

“So now I get to do this with a sore chin?” Ianto was going for bitchy, but the smile quirking his lips ruined the effect.

“Sorry,” Jack looked contrite.  “I was trying to help.”

Ianto leaned over and kissed Jack, for once not caring that everyone was watching.  Then he lay back on the table.

“Right.  So we’re going to have to do a body-bind spell on you, so you don’t move around.  Then we’ll re-open and then heal the wounds.”

“You remember where they all are?” Ianto asked.

“I’ll do a locator spell, to be sure we have them all.”  Draco looked at Susan.  “I’ll open, and you close?”

Her eyes grew wide.  “You’re much better at the _Vulnera Sanentur_ than I am.  And I’m good with incisions.”

“All right, then.  Let’s do the locator spell, and mark out the injuries, first.”  He reached out and put a hand on Ianto’s arm.  “We won’t do the body-bind until we’re ready to start.”

“Can… Can Jack stay?” Ianto asked.  He felt panicky at the thought of being immobilized.  “It’s just… I… I don’t like the body-bind curse.”

“Spell.  No one is going to curse you today, Nif,” Draco rubbed Ianto’s arm comfortingly.  “And yes, Jack can stay.”

Draco quickly healed the newly forming bruise on Ianto’s chin, then spoke the incantation that marked all of the scars caused by the _sectumsempra_ curse.

“Blimey, Ianto,” Owen muttered from where he and Martha were perched, watching over the procedure.

“All right, Ianto.  Are you ready?” Susan asked.

Ianto gave a jerky nod as Jack took his right hand.  Almost all of the damage to his chest was on the left side.  Jack stood to his right and leaned over the table, staring into Ianto’s eyes, helping to anchor him.

Susan spoke the incantation, and Jack saw Ianto’s panic as the body-bind spell took effect. His breathing was forced to be regular, and there was no change in his expression, but the terror in his eyes was clear to see.

_Ianto, can you hear me?_

If he could have widened his eyes, Ianto would have.  As it was, the expression in his eyes showed his surprise.

 _Yes_ , came the hesitant reply.  Another look of surprise.  Then pain and fear took over as Susan began opening his wounds.  _Jesus, fuck!  Jack!  Oh, gods…_

Jack could hardly think for Ianto’s silent screaming in his head.  He vaguely wondered how the others couldn't hear it, it was so all-encompassing.

 _Focus on my voice, Ianto.  It’s just you and me.  It’s going to be all right, I promise._   He spoke the same words, aloud.

Ianto couldn’t even close his eyes.  He couldn’t shut out the pain, the fear, the smell of blood, the murmurs of his friends as they ripped his body open…  _Jack!  Help me!_

_I’m right here, Ianto.  I’m not going anywhere._

“Everything is reopened,” Susan stepped back, looking pale.

_Halfway there, Ianto._

_Please help me, Jack.  Please.  Make it stop.  Too much.  It’s too much.  It’s…_

Ianto’s screams faded and his eyes took on a blank look that panicked Jack.  “Ianto, look at me!”

Something in Jack’s voice must have startled Ianto, because the blankness faded.  Ianto was looking back at him, his eyes bright with pain.  “There you are,” Jack smiled.  _Stay with me, Ianto.  Draco is almost done._

As Ianto’s screaming recommenced in Jack’s head, he persevered in providing a steady stream of soothing reassurance, carding his fingers through Ianto’s hair, promising everything from a bubble bath to breakfast in bed to a month of sleep that would be uninterrupted by anything except for food, more bubble baths, and – if Ianto wanted – sex. 

Draco worked quickly and skillfully, almost singing the counter-curse.  He watched as each wound healed properly, this time, noting the difference between how it was healing now and how it healed on the Astronomy Tower all those years ago, with just the Essence of Dittany. 

He was sorry he had not remembered the counter-curse, that day.  He was sorry he had not found Ianto after the battle and made him go to a Healer.  He was sorry he had not asked about the injuries when he met Ianto for coffee, ten days after the battle.  He shook his head.  Too many regrets, and now was not the time to become distracted.

Draco poured all of his talent and intention into the healing counter-curse.  Each wound took time to heal, and he knew that Ianto felt every moment of it.  He watched as Jack tried to soothe Ianto, and while he was glad that Jack was there to help, he could still see the unvarnished anguish in his friend’s eyes.

When the last wound in Ianto’s left thigh finally closed, Draco stepped back.  Ianto was covered in blood, but most had been recaptured by the counter-curse.  Jack could see that the scars that Ianto had carried for almost a decade were now gone. 

Draco looked at Ianto and saw that his eyes held less pain and anguish, but both were still present.  It was time to lift the body-bind spell.  “Susan?” he looked to his friend.

Susan released the spell, and Ianto cried out, releasing the half-scream that had been trapped in his throat since they began.  His chest was heaving, and he was clinging to Jack.  It was actually a tame reaction, compared to some Draco had seen.  And considering the week his friend had already endured, with the remembering and the aftershocks, he was not surprised at the reaction.

Draco and Susan both ran their wands over Ianto, reciting incantations that showed them his vitals, and how he was coping with the procedure.  All results were better than satisfactory, and Draco credited this to Jack’s assistance.  He motioned for Owen to come administer a painkiller for any residual discomfort.

“We’ll go, now,” Draco said quietly.  “One of us will stop by in the morning, to check in.”

Jack nodded and watched them as they disapparated.  He continued to soothe Ianto, who was almost hyperventilating in his arms.  Luna wrapped her arms around both of them and apparated them to the bunker, where she started a hot bath for Ianto. 

Once it was run, and with a generous supply of everlasting bubbles, she let Jack know.  He picked Ianto up and took him to the bath, closing the door behind him.  Luna quickly changed the bed linens before apparating home for a long bath of her own, and a nap.

Jack relieved Ianto of his bloody boxer briefs and lowered him into the bath.  The hot water seemed to help the younger man come back to himself.  With a small tug of his hand, he persuaded Jack to disrobe and join him, since the bathtub Luna had provided them was big enough for both of them.

Sitting behind Ianto, Jack proceeded to wash the younger man’s hair, eliciting a good deal of what Jack could only describe as purring.  This was new.  “So tell me,” he whispered in Ianto’s ear, “do Niffler’s purr?”

“Apparently this one does, now,” Ianto turned his head and captured Jack’s mouth in a slow, sensuous kiss.  Soon Ianto had turned so he was curled between Jack’s legs, his right side pressed against Jack’s chest, right arm wrapped around his waist as his left hand plunged into Jack’s hair as they kissed.

With no endgame or agenda other than enjoying themselves in this particular moment, they continued to kiss until the water cooled, Jack reveled in Ianto’s unrushed passion.  He recognized the passion, of course.  It was one of the first things that had drawn him to Ianto.  But this relaxed, unhurried _enjoyment_ of each touch was new.  He realized that Ianto was reveling, as well. 

He pulled the plug on the tub and began running more hot water, unwilling to end the bath, so soon.  He felt Ianto smile against his lips and knew he had made the right call.  Once the bath was steamy again, they resumed their canoodling.  That’s all it was, really.  No intention of anything more energetic, not after what Ianto had just endured.  Just some truly fantastic snogging.

At one point, Jack pulled away.  “How do you feel?” he asked.

Ianto sighed against Jack’s neck.  “Right now, in this water, in your arms?  Better than I think I’ve ever felt in my life.”  He looked up, and Jack saw a storm of emotions in Ianto’s eyes.  Ianto was fully aware of just how much Jack had learned about him since their unexpected visitors had arrived, two days before.  And now he looked at Jack, with all of that vulnerability shining in his eyes, waiting to see if Jack would say something that would force Ianto to add a ‘but’ to that statement.

Jack leaned down and continued their kiss.  He felt more than heard Ianto sigh into his mouth, and then the purring started, again.  Jack felt a very great danger of falling in love with that sound.  He carded his hand through Ianto’s hair, just to hear it.  He kissed along Ianto’s jawline, and that spot behind his ear, to hear it again.  He wrapped his legs around Ianto’s body and pulled him closer, to hear it just one more time. 

When the water had cooled again, Jack filled the tub once again.  This time, he grabbed a fluffy flannel and poured the lovely soap Luna had left them onto it.  He took great pleasure in slowly washing his lover.  He moved Ianto so his back was once more facing him, and started by washing his back.  Then he moved around so he was in front of Ianto, and he proceeded to gently wash his chest.

He had memorized each scar, and now he gently moved the cloth along where the injuries had been, first with the flannel, and then with his hand.  When he was done, he leaned against Ianto and resumed their kissing until the water cooled a third time.

He helped Ianto out of the bath and they both stood under the shower to rinse off the bubbles.  Then Jack took one of the exceptionally soft towels Luna had provided (he really needed to figure out a way to thank her for all of this) and gently dried Ianto.

Knowing they would not have visitors until morning, he decided to forego pyjamas and tucked Ianto into bed, climbing in beside him.  Wrapped in one another’s arms, they kissed for a while longer, until Ianto fell asleep.

***

It was just gone three in the morning when Jack gently woke Ianto from the beginnings of a nightmare.  As Ianto calmed himself, Jack discovered that the lovely purring noises were not the only new behavior resulting from the last few days. 

He was idly caressing Ianto as they were spooned together, starting at his thigh, moving slowly up over his hip, then moving forward to his abdomen, and then up his chest.  Each time Jack’s hand moved from Ianto’s abdomen to chest, Ianto’s body would give a small sort of undulating shudder that pressed the back of his body even closer against the front of Jack’s. 

Jack would have been hard pressed to say why, but it was one of the most incredible feelings he had ever experienced.  On the next pass, his hand moved higher, up to Ianto’s neck, his jaw, his cheek.

Ianto let out a sigh of contentment.  “Jack,” he breathed.  “I…”  Tension filled his body as he seemed to catch himself.  Jack heard an audible click as Ianto snapped his jaws together to stop whatever he had been about to say from spilling out.

“What, Ianto?” Jack breathed into his lover’s ear, feeling a responding shiver.  “Is it a secret?” he smiled as a second shiver followed.

“Not really,” Ianto replied, and there was a sadness in his voice that had Jack paying closer attention.  He had thought Ianto wanted Jack to touch him, perhaps to make love to him.  This was… something different.

“What is it?” Jack asked, his tone still soft, but the playfulness gone.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ianto said, words that Jack had found to be a reliable indicator that it really, really did.  “I’m knackered, Jack.  Can we just go back to sleep?”

Jack thought of how emotionally vulnerable Ianto must be feeling, at the moment.  How he had been cracked open and then endured so much pain.  And now, he was, for the first time in almost a decade, free from pain.  Comfortable.  In a safe place, warm and comforted, with someone he…

_Oh._

“Were you having a feeling, Ianto?” he asked, trying to be playful, again.

“Perhaps, but I will spare you my nonsense, Sir.”

Jack winced.  This was not an occasion where ‘sir’ satisfied any of his kinks.  It was more of a cold, wet, mildewy blanket.

“I hope you know that I don’t consider any of your feelings nonsense, Ianto.”

“And yet you’ve made it clear how you feel about twenty-first century sentimentality,” Ianto said in a small voice.

“Only in that it makes people uncomfortable with whom and how they love,” Jack replied defensively.

Ianto sighed.  “Which is why I have no expectations, Sir.  I… I know you find monogamy silly and quaint, so I have never made any demands of you, as far as that goes.  My only hope is that it’s not anyone I know…”

Jack was stunned.  “Ianto, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”  He felt Ianto tense again and smoothed a hand down the younger man’s arm.  Ianto seemed to lean into Jack’s touch, even as a millimeter of space appeared between them that had not been there, before.

Jack leaned in and kissed Ianto’s neck.  “Since I got back from… the time I was with the Doctor, since I asked you out on a date… since we’ve been dating,” he felt like he was babbling.  He took a deep breath and continued, “I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear.  I thought you knew that my intention was that this would be exclusive.”

“Why?” Ianto asked, sounding utterly baffled.

“Because I know that’s your preference.  And I wanted you badly enough to be willing to accept that as a term of us being together.”

“But I would never ask that of you, Jack.  I could never ask you to go against your nature, or your upbringing.”

“Monogamy isn’t gone by my time, Ianto.  It just isn’t as prevalent.  And I can be monogamous.  I have been, with several partners.  Just not in a long time, that’s all.  I have nothing against it, and I wouldn’t say there’s anything in my nature that necessarily rebels against it.  Actually, it can be more intense, depending on the partner.”  Jack had found that his sex life had been far more intense, interesting and satisfying with “just” Ianto than it had been with dozens of partners in the past few decades.

“I don’t want you to make a promise that you can’t keep, Jack.”

“You think I couldn’t honor such a promise?” Jack was trying not to let that hurt, but it definitely had a sting to it.

“I’ve seen the way you look at Gwen.”  Ianto moved a bit further away, curling in on himself.  He was slowly drawing himself into the fetal position, such was his discomfort with this conversation.  “And the way she looks at you.  Sometimes when you two fight, Owen and Tosh look at me with such _pity_ ,” he spat the last word.  “And part of me wishes you two would just go on and fuck it out on the gantry, and be done with it.”

“Gwen?”  Jack frowned.  “Ianto, I don’t want Gwen.” 

Ianto made a derisive snort.  “Please don’t insult my intelligence, Jack.”

“I’m serious.  I mean, yes.  Okay, Gwen is special to me.”  He could practically hear Ianto’s eyes rolling.  “She reminds me of Rose.  Did I ever tell you that?  And she has this _life_.  It’s almost... normal.  I mean… don’t you envy that?  I know I do.”

“She has the life I lost in London,” Ianto said quietly.  “And then she shits on it by doing things like screwing around with Owen and panting after you.”  Ianto sighed.  “I like Gwen, I do.  But sometimes…  I just want to shake her.  To tell her to not take it for granted, because it can all turn to dust, so easily.  But I’m just a kid.  What the fuck do I know?”

Jack continued stroking Ianto’s arm.  He understood Ianto’s frustration.  And he recognized his concern.  “Ianto.  Gwen… yeah, she’s good for my ego, because of the whole hero-worship thing.  I can’t lie and say that’s not fun.  But she is not even willing to see the real me.  The only person who has ever seen me as I am and still had any ability to hold me in some regard is you.  That is… not something I would ever trade for a quick shag.”

He kissed Ianto’s neck.  “Yes, there is an attraction there.  But even when you and I weren’t exclusive, I never indulged.  Why would I now?”

“So if she came to you and threw herself at you, you wouldn’t respond?”

“I might respond, for about two seconds.  Instincts are strong, but what makes us human is that we are more than our instincts, right?”  Jack frowned then, curious.  “What would you do, if I did?  Respond for more than two seconds, that is.”

Ianto shrugged.  “I know myself well enough to be certain that I couldn’t just stand and watch as I’m the one _not_ chosen.  I’d probably disappear back into the magical world.”

“But what about your tour?”

“I’d resign from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”

“But you love being an Auror!” Jack was surprised.  Not just that Ianto would do such a thing, but that clearly he had considered what he would do.  It cut Jack to the core that Ianto was so sure Jack would choose Gwen that he already had an exit plan in place.

Ianto shrugged again.

“What would you do?”

“Maybe I’d help Luna’s beau with conservation efforts, working with magical beasties,” Ianto said.

“You don’t enjoy the countryside.”

He shrugged.  “Maybe I’d teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.  I have a bit of the sight.  Maybe I’d help Luna and Cho.  Or go to Romania and work with Charlie.  I like dragons,” he smiled at the last statement.  Then he shook himself.  “Either way, you’d never have to see me again.”

“Ianto, I need you to make me a promise,” Jack said, his voice low and serious.

“What do you want, Jack?” Ianto was tired and wanted to return to sleep.

“If something ever happens, that you think I have chosen someone else over you, I want you to promise me that before you disappear, you'll do that leggy thing.”

“Leggy thing…  Do you mean legilimency?  How am I meant to do that?  Tosh says that when she had that alien pendant, she couldn’t read you.  She said it was like there was nothing there.”

“When I was a time agent, I had extensive training in shielding myself from being read, like that.  I imagine it was very much like the training you call occlumency, right?”  At Ianto’s nod, he continued, “I can take down the shields.  Allow myself to be read.”

“So you’re saying that if I think you have chosen someone else, I need to use legilimency on you, to be sure, before I leave…”

“What do you say?  Can you promise me that?”

Ianto shrugged.  “Sure.”

“Say it.”

“I promise to use legilimency on you before I leave, if I suspect you have chosen someone else.”  Ianto huffed.  “There.  Happy?”  He really was feeling very tired.

“Swear it.  On your magic.”

“Jack, why are we even talking about this?”

“Because maybe you’re not the only one having a feeling,” Jack blurted.

Ianto went so still that Jack wondered for a moment if he was still breathing.  “Oh,” he said, his voice quiet and almost reverent.

Jack sighed and kissed the back of Ianto’s neck.  “And because you’ve already planned an exit, and I can’t decide what’s worse – how much that hurts, or how much it scares me.  And I have the misfortune of having things happen that look bad, even when they’re not.  And you have a deceptively hot temper.  And I don’t want you to just disappear on me, ever.  You know how that feels.  Would you wish that on anyone?”

Lying in the dark, with his back to Jack, Ianto only had the tone in Jack’s voice to gauge the tenor of the conversation.  But Jack was making no attempt to hide anything.  His voice was completely open and Ianto could feel Jack’s hurt and fear and uneasiness in that speech.  He sighed.  “All right, Jack.  I swear it, on my magic.  I won’t just disappear on you.”

“Thank you,” Jack said, reaching around and pulling Ianto close against him, once more.  “And we could always practice, with one another.”

“Practice?”

“See how 51st century time agency telepathic shielding holds up against magical legilimency.  And how magical occlumency can withstand a 51st century sortie.”

“Hmm,” Ianto had to admit he was intrigued.  He knew it was a good idea to keep up his occlumency training, and this might be a good way to do that with more discipline.  “Might be interesting.  Though…”

“I trust you, Ianto,” Jack said, resuming the caresses that had started the conversation.  By the second pass, Ianto was shuddering closer against his chest, again. 

 _Incredible_.

***


End file.
